Munich/Martinsried, Germany, March 27, 2023 – Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG (“Secarna”), a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery and development of next-generation antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapies to address challenging or previously undruggable targets, and SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals (“SciNeuro”), a leader in the discovery and development of innovative therapeutics for the treatment of neurological diseases, today announced the signature of a multi-target research and option agreement. Within the collaboration, the companies will work together to generate novel ASO therapies directed at targets that play a critical role in diseases of the Central Nervous System.

Secarna will employ its commercially validated locked nucleic acid discovery and development platform, LNAplus™ to generate and profile antisense oligonucleotide candidates against targets selected by SciNeuro that are relevant for the treatment of CNS diseases, following which SciNeuro has an option to obtain worldwide exclusive rights for development and commercialization.  

“We are looking forward to collaborating with SciNeuro and to combine our industry-leading antisense oligonucleotide platform LNAplus™ with SciNeuro’s strong expertise and capabilities in the field of CNS diseases,” said Alexander Gebauer, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Secarna Pharmaceuticals. “Together, we see the potential to break new ground and jointly develop highly specific, safe and effective therapeutics for patients living with incurable diseases of the Central Nervous System, who currently have very limited treatment options.”

“It is our mission to translate scientific discoveries into transformative CNS therapies that restore the joy in living”, said Dr. Min Li, Founder and CEO, SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals. “As Secarna’s validated ASO technology provides a highly promising pathway to access targets commonly deemed ‘undruggable‘, we are excited about this collaboration to pursue novel therapeutics for patients living with debilitating CNS diseases.”

About Secarna’s proprietary drug discovery and development platform, LNAplus™

Secarna’s proprietary, customized LNAplus™ platform is being applied to the discovery, testing and selection of antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) for pre-clinical and clinical development. LNAplus™ encompasses all aspects of drug discovery and pre-clinical development and has proven to be fast, reliable, scalable and efficient, enabling the discovery of novel antisense-based therapies for challenging or currently undruggable targets. The platform includes the powerful proprietary Oligofyer™ bioinformatics pipeline, a streamlined, high efficiency screening process, including Secarna’s proprietary LNA-Vit(r)ox™ safety test system, as well as target-specific functional assays. Secarna’s platform and ASOs have been validated by numerous in-house projects as well as in several academic and industry collaborations.

About Secarna Pharmaceuticals GmbH & Co. KG

Secarna Pharmaceuticals is the leading independent European next-generation antisense drug discovery and development company addressing high unmet medical needs in immuno-oncology and immunology, as well as viral, neurodegenerative and cardiometabolic diseases. Secarna’s mission is to maximize the performance and output of its proprietary LNAplus™ antisense oligonucleotide discovery platform, as well as to develop highly specific, safe, and efficacious best-in-class antisense therapies. With over 20 discovery and development programs, including both proprietary pipeline projects and partnered programs, Secarna focuses on targets in indications where antisense-based approaches have clear potential benefits over other therapeutic modalities. www.secarna.com

About SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals

SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals is an innovation-driven, neuroscience-focused biopharmaceutical company with corporate and R&D facilities located in both the United States and China. The company has established a broad portfolio of novel therapeutic candidates to address neurodegenerative and other CNS diseases. SciNeuro focuses on targets that are supported by human biology and which play a critical role in regulating foundation biology, to achieve better probability of success in clinical development. SciNeuro is committed to delivering medicines that can make a difference to improve the lives of patients around the world, transforming scientific discoveries into groundbreaking therapies.  To learn more, visit www.SciNeuro.com.